337.
To his Stepmother.
February 28th, 1778.
Dear Madam,
SUEING FOR PEACE.
You will think me the most impudent fellow alive: but I am really angry with you for not being angry with me o account of my long and shameful silence. We have had (I do not mean it as any excuse) the hardest work I have yet known in Parliament. You see that we are reduced to the humiliation of sueing for peace. I much fear we shall have the additional humiliation of being rejected. In the meantime a French war is every day a probable event. I have not yet seen so very black a prospect. How have you passed the winter, in health, in spirits and in amusements? For my own part I am perfectly free from the gout, and notwithstanding the hurry of business and pleasure, I steal some moments for the Roman Empire. I can assure you with the utmost truth that I look forward to Easter with such impatience I will write oftener.
I am, Dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. Gibbon.